Forza Horizon 3 is finally here. After all that hype, it’s about time right? With this edition of the Forza franchise you’re no longer a competitor, but the Boss of the Horizon festival and your job is to rack in the fans and expand Horizon the way you want to.
Playground Games wanted to add some new diversity to the Horizon 3 game play and where else better to go then Australia. With 350 vehicles recreated with awe-inspiring Forzavista detail, including trophy trucks and buggies, it brings a whole new experience to Horizon.
A world twice as big as the previous Forza Horizon games there is plenty to do, so let’s get right into it and see what’s new. There are six different ecotypes, from the wild rainforest, the gargantuan outback to the captivating skyscrapers of Surfers Paradise and more; no wonder its twice as big! – Twice as fun too.
When it comes to customizations you don’t have to worry because they’ve got you covered there as well. With the new horizon blueprints you can create your own races, championships and even bucket list challenges but it doesn’t just stop there. Choose your own driver character and name from the many choices or even edit your own vanity license plate.
Adding to the beauty of Forza 6, ForzaTech has made improvements to water puddles and in game skies which were captured on site last year (Available in HDR content for Xbox One S). I didn’t really take notice of the sky at first, but after a while you can start to appreciate that the top half of your screen looks just as good as the bottom half. Driving during the sunrise or after dark with the festival fireworks in the sky, it’s astonishing how they have manage to detail the scenery, weather and cars but still run at 60 frames per second.
Forza horizon 3 adds new ways to experience the open world with ‘Danger’ jumps (which you’ll never get bored of), convoys and drift zones. My favourite though, would probably be the drone mode. Tired of driving or can’t get across a huge reservoir? Here’s drone mode to the rescue. Scout areas of the map to find your routes, fly through the thick rainforest or explore the Australian ecotypes.
https://youtu.be/fTSUgXkfooA
Now let’s talk about the soundtrack. Horizon is after all a festival and what’s a festival without music? With eight different radio stations you can choose which will definitely get you hyped up, but then it gets repetitive after a few days. That’s when Groove Music saves the day. It’s a custom radio station that lets you play the music from your personal playlist so you never get bored. Well then again you could just turn the radio off and listen to sweet sound of roaring engines and the crackling in the exhausts that’ll give you an eargasm and leave you ear-ning for more (too many puns?).
Even though Horizon is a Forza game, you’ll be dissapointed if you’re expecting anything like the Motorsports edition as they’re merely relatives… cousins. Doing donuts in Horizon with Traction Control or driving your Lamborghini on the beach would be impossible in the Motorsports editions (if it had beaches). Don’t get me wrong though, the Forza DNA still is strong. It’s just that when it comes to realistic racing, well, Horizon won’t be your cup of tea. Forza Motorsports is for the more serious racing addicts while Horizon is more for the playful crowd. They both have amazing vehicles though with more than 350 cars to drive.
Do you love rare cars and crazy designs that come from the most talented creators in the Forza Universe? Well who doesn’t? Auction house lets you find these exquisite vehicles and incredible works of art, whereas Storefront lets you show them off to the Forza community.
Forza Horizon 3 lets you do what you can’t in Forza Motorsport 6. Horizon 3 is what you play in between your Motorsport 6 track session. Put these two together, and you can’t ask for anything better. Hmm… a Fast & Furious add-on for Horizons in the near future won’t hurt.